Best on-line courses?
Posted By: Kirsten on 2006-01-03
In Reply to:
Hello,
I'd like to take an on-line transcription course, does anyone recommend one over another? Thanks!
Kirsten in CO
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MT courses and pay
I was hoping to get some recommedations for online courses and find out what the going rate is for a new MT per year.
I do medical coding & billing right now, but would like to work from home since I am a single mom of 3. The only thing is I currently make $44,000 per year and cannot make much less then that because of mortgage and bills. Thanks for any info.
Have you taken MT courses yet? Or are you just jumping in on your own? nm
x
I never took any special courses, but I had
worked a total of almost 15 years in a hospital, first in billing, where we had to code all the diagnoses and ops ourselves, and then in another hospital in rehab, where part of my duties were transcription for that dept and some of their various clinics. After my second child was born, I quit the hospital and a friend who had 20 years in transcription taught me what I needed to learn. I got hired by one of the first company's I applied with, and have been doing this for seven years now, and love what I do!
Not bogus, there are good courses..
Some are scams. Career Step is not a scam. However, really nobody makes decent money starting out. I used to train MTs, some from Career Step. Most made close to minimum wage at first. They were also limited in the number of reports and work types at first and hours worked. They had the basics but didn't have the overall experience so it takes a lot of time and patience from both the trainer/mentor and the MT. But these MTs are the ones that usually do well. If you start out with a national and are just handed a job and not given a trainer/mentor per se, you will not learn much and will likely fail the QA reviews but hopefully they will give good feedback and you can learn that way. Newbies don't usually do well with that kind of situation in my experience. So finding a company that is willing to take on trainees and mentor them as a first job is a good idea. The pay is also not like it used to be and even after training if you have a job with a national paying 6 cpl you would only be making around 9 an hour based on 150 lph. In my experience I have rarely seen a newbie getting over 150 lph accurately until maybe after a good six months of heavy mentoring/close monitoring by an experienced MT. JMO. Hope that helps.
Taken courses, but not much hands-on experience as of yet. n/m
m
courses with Career Step
Have you seen the new issue of Women For Hire and the article about MT, how you can be making up to $32/hour and "you control how much you make." They also suggest you go to AHDI website for more info.
What are the best at home medical billing courses out there?
Have a friend who is interested in training to become a medical biller/coder from home and I really have no idea where to tell her to start. Can anyone help?
Universities with the best free online courses
http://education-portal.com/articles/Universities_with_the_Best_Free_Online_Courses.html
The schools are in the business of "selling" their courses.
Of course they are going to "sell" the profession as fastest growing, make great money staying at home, etc.
I'm studying coding too. I've been looking at different courses plus I bought SM
Step by Step Medical Coding by Carol J. Buck along with the workbook that goes along with it. So while I'm trying to decide on a school, I can be studying on my own. According to the AHIMA website though with my years of experience as an MT, I am eligible to take the certification exam without having to complete a formal coding course. Transcription is considered part of the HIM department and thus if you have worked in any position in HIM, you are qualified to take the test.
So, I may find that studying on my own will benefit me better than paying money for a course I'm not sure about. I also have the benefit of tuition reimbursement with my employer and I may take advantage of that if I find a program I like.
So, I'm with you! Let me know what school you decide on or what avenue you decide to take. Might help me make the decision in the long run!
Andrews School or M-TEC online are excellent courses. See inside.
If you complete one of those courses, you should have no trouble finding a job working from home. They are a bit more expensive than some of the other courses, but MANY companies will waive their 2 years' experience requirement for grads of those two schools. Do not be suckered in by cheaper schools, MT companies know which schools supply good training and which ones don't.
community college. those online courses/schools are not very good and
very expensive.
but don't do it just to work at home.
Assciate in Arts, medical secretarial curriculum. 2 years with courses in sm
anatomy and physiology, biology, clinical biology (taking and processing lab tests--drawing blood on each other!!), filing, skills on all types of office machines, English composition, accounting, psychology, economics, medical terminology/transcription, and, of course, typing. In the second year we did internships at local city hospitals.
I went into transcription after working as a medical secretary for 7 years in a very large clinic.
Either one are 9 month courses at the local community college..worth a shot!
!!!
A gross line is anything on a line is a line. A line set at 65 characters means it sm
has 1-inch margins on each side. The maximum number of characters on that line would be 65 and that includes spaces. If there is 1 character on that line it is a line.
A standard 65-character line usually consists of 65 characters with spaces unless, of course, the employer does not pay for spaces and then it would be 65-characters without spaces.
Anything on the line makes up a line even if just one letter or number. Every line of print is a
s
Gross line = each line on page counts as a line, even if it's only 1 word. nm
x
Gross line means anything on a line is counted as a line.
You can get an idea in the difference using documents you have already created, assuming you're working in Word. Simply open a document and check the properties. Click on the statistics tab and you will see the number of lines as well as characters with and without spaces. If you're currently getting paid by the line and a line is 65-characters with spaces, do the math and see how that number of lines compares with the number of lines in your stats.
One thing to keep in mind: if you have a blank line between paragraphs, instead of hitting the enter key twice, format your document to give the appearance of blank lines between paragraphs.
Gross line, also including blank lines because my line rate is so low. It all works out in the wash.
x
$.06 gross line / .70 = approximately $.0857 cents per 65 character line.
A gross line is anything on a line versus 65 gross characters per net line the other way. You make more money working for the gross line than for the 65 gross character line, as long as the line rate's OK.
A gross line is any line with typewritten characters on it - no matter how long or SM
how short. So your gross lines may be longer than 65 characters, but you get credit even for a line as short as "Sincerely,". If your gross lines are not being counted that way, then you are not being counted on gross lines and are probably getting screwed. I'd look into that if I were you.
Yes if gross line or 65 character line with spaces....Good Deal!!! nm
x
1) do you have a contract stating line counting and line rate,sm
if you look at the IRS website it's pretty clear what constitutes IC versus SE versus employee. You might want to photocopy that along with a copy of your contract with your next invoice and also put on the invoice any monies due from past invoices they "changed"...maybe catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Good luck!
New England, 16.50/hr, 8 cents a line after minimum line count..
full benefits available with general contribution by the hospital before you start paying for them, retirement, 403b, all benefits, and working at home as an employee, BUT, you have to live local to the hospital.
I changed my line to a business line, talked to a supervisor sm
at SBC, told him what I was using the service for, and got the okay to use it -- $49/month unlimited.
I have also used The Neighborhood, and their unlimited is truly unlimited. I also explained to them when I signed up what I was using it for and their comment was "unlimited means just that -- unlimited, no matter what." I cannot remember how much they were, but it might be worth checking into for you. (www.theneighborhood.com)
Good luck!
What is the average line/hour for a 65 character line with spaces? NM
.
Curious, do most IC's usually charge by the gross line or 65 character line?
Thank you~
it certainly is not pay worthy at 4.5 line or 3 line. I know the companies cram it down our throats
nm
That still is not a paid line rate. If your base is $0.10 per line, it will be $0.08 cpl.
Considering other companies pay 4 or 5 cents per line for VR - you are still making out.
Question about what is PAID for a line and what is BILLED for a line
Does the MTSO actually bill for headers, footers, and other things the transcriptionists are not paid for? I worked for a company a while back and their copy of what each Transcriptionist typed the day before and our copy was a lot different, about 30% different. Their copy was the billing copy. So, double their enhanced amount and subtract our 9 cents a line, it comes to a bigger profit than what I thought.
What's the diff between a gross line and a 65-char line?
Mebbe just got my first OWN ACCOUNT YAY! He said to charge him the "going rate" since I pay him that. This could be the start, baby! (I hope)
A gross line is any amount of characters on a line
for instance...
MEDICATIONS:
Effexor
Prevasid
A 65 character line without spaces is black marks on the page only and 65 w/spaces is everything... tabs, spaces, numbers, letters, bold, etc.
that should be "up .02/line" NOT up "to" .02/line. geez. nm
x
Gross line versus character line....Sm please
I am thinking of taking a job that pays by the gross line and not a 65-character line. I have never worked this way. Does this literally mean if there is one little word on a line you get paid for it? I have not pinned her down on a line rate but I am just thinking I am going to be comparing apples to oranges and am wondering how to accomplish that.
Thanks for any help!
gross-anything on line counts as line,even one word
xx
gross line is anything on a line, even just your initials. sm
spaces really don't matter in a gross line count.
But that's a GROSS line, not a 65 character line.
So a newbie would have no problem at all hitting 150 lines per hour. A gross line is any line with a printed character on it.
Which is better? Gross line or 65 character line? It's
nm
I don't make 0.08/line.. I work for no less than .13/line. nm
.
IC, by line, 68-72 character spaces/line
@
I would go with the line rate. At less than 9.5 cents per line sm
I make $30 an hour. I would never transcribe for $15 an hour, for anyone.
7.5/gross line or 10/65 char line?
Anyone have any idea which would come out to more? TIA
A gross line may be close to 65 ch.pl but she said line
z
Anything on a line (even just initials) is considered a line.
I prefer to use the 65-character line count (including spaces).
gross line and character line
I am an IC currently doing one doctor who pays me by the hour but I will be starting another doctor soon and he will be dictating differently so I was going to charge him per line. What is the difference of charging gross lines or per 65 character line?
Gross line is anything on a line is a line
so if there is just one character, it is a line. Font definitely makes a difference though particularly if there are true type fonts involved. That's one you have to be careful on and insist on fixed fonts.
Just do a gross line - anything on a line is a line. sm
I use Abacus - free line counting software.
The bottom line is doesnt matter what they pay if there is no work you make no money. Bottom line.
:
What is a 55 char gross line compared to a 65-char line including spaces?
t
You need to watch your line count. I was working for them and got reports that had line count of 0
You need to watch your line count. I was working for them and got reports that had line count of 0 in them. They did not pay for templates, they would deduct the template even if it was not used and deleted. I notified them and said they could not change it.
So I asked to be put on another account and they refused. I quit.
I was also promised they would have an incentive plan going into place if you type a certain # of lines. Two years went by and nothing.
I was really disappointed in OSI.
They also offered to pay half on joint AAMT, which they failed to do.
I am glad I am no longer there.
Quick question! Is 10 cpl with benefits at 74 character line better than 9 cpl at 65 character line?
Thanks
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